An exploratory study of a sample of key stakeholders' views of the business implications and politics accompanying Australian Climate Policy reform

Abstract

This research sets out to examine how key stakeholders view climate change and climate policy reform in Australia. The study presents a survey of the existing literature detailing various aspects of the topic, including; business preparedness for policy reform, perspectives of climate change, the efficacy of proposed mitigation strategies, employment ramifications and the authority of the sovereign nation to pursue climate policy reform autonomously. This survey demonstrates a situation where consensus is far from reached. Divergent opinions exist as to the nature, cause and impacts of climate change and arguments abound as to the most appropriate response to mitigate against further climate change. The literature does, however, present two areas of agreement. Firstly, the discourse presents a situation where business and individuals are poorly informed as to the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Secondly, the literature argues forcefully that vested interests are holding sway in the design and implementation of new climate policies.